Community Education

Description

Over the past 10 years the Community Education Program has provided Suicide Assessment and Intervention, Grief and Loss, Senior Specific and Youth Specific Suicide Prevention in-service trainings throughout Alameda County. Our experiential and didactic curriculum provides for an informative and engaging workshop and/or presentation.

Mission

To prevent suicide through training and education within the community. We work to dispel the myths and combat the stigma surrounding suicide by talking about it openly. By raising awareness and giving people the knowledge and skills to recognize suicidal behavior and provide safe and effective intervention, we can save lives.

Structure

Our in-service trainings provide invaluable information to the public regarding suicidal risk factors, warning signs of when depression might be leaning towards self-destructive behavior, and how to assess and respond to an individual who may be suicidal and in crisis. We can tailor our trainings to address certain high risk groups such as: people living with mental illness, college students, seniors and youth.

We call our youth suicide prevention trainings, Gatekeeper trainings. A gatekeeper is defined as those individuals in a community who have face to face contact with large numbers of community members as part of their usual routine and are trained to identify persons at risk of suicide and refer them to treatment or supportive services as appropriate.

Our Gatekeeper trainings give adults who work with youth the understanding, awareness and confidence to respond appropriately with a young person who may be at risk for suicide. Our training workshop will enhance the knowledge of your staff by teaching them about: depressive symptoms unique to youth, risk and protective factors, warning signs, assessment skills and intervention strategies, and community resources. 

Whom We Serve

The Community Education Program provides in-service trainings to a large range of audiences including primary and non-primary care providers, service agencies, professional groups, mental health providers and interns, and other community groups throughout Alameda County. We also regularly provide Gatekeeper trainings to teachers, parents, school counselors, school health nurses, coaches, security support staff and administrators.

Fees

We ask for an honorarium as a suggested guideline for in-service training fees, however the program operates on a sliding scale basis and no one is turned away for lack of ability to pay. There is no fee for in-service trainings provided at schools.

Contact

To request an in-service training or agency information presentation, or if you would like to have Crisis Support Services represented at your event please contact:

Coordinator: Chris Rita 510-420-3203

Resources

http://www.suicidology.org/web/guest/home (General Information)
http://www.sptsnj.org/parents/ (For Parents)
http://www.sprc.org/featured_resources/customized/teachers.asp  (For Teachers)

http://www.sprc.org/featured_resources/customized/social_worker.asp  (Clinical Social Workers & Counselors)

http://www.sprc.org/featured_resources/customized/school_mentalhealth.asp (School mental health providers)

http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/cg/mh/documents/suicideprev.pdf (Youth Suicide Prevention Guidelines for California Schools

Volunteering

Yes, we are seeking volunteers at this time. Learn more or contact us for additional information.